PHILADELPHIA — He wore a helmet and his familiar red jersey. He dropped back and delivered passes, beside fellow quarterbacks. He ran alongside teammates, as one session of practice ended and before the next one had begun. He took part in coordinated stretching exercises, too.

On the surface, Michael Vick looked at home and healthy. At the podium, while answering reporters’ questions, Vick looked out of sorts and chose his words carefully.

“Another week of rehabbing would put me in a position to start getting confidence in it and doing the things that I do,” Vick said, the Eagles quarterback all but verbalizing that he will miss Sunday’s game in Dallas.

When asked directly about his status, the topic around which he had been dancing, Vick didn’t take the bait.

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“I can’t answer that question right now,” he said. “As far as I know right now, we’ll take it one day at a time, day to day, and rehab it. When I say I’m ready, Coach (Chip) Kelly will make a determination.”

Nick Foles, who started in Vick’s place last weekend at Tampa Bay, took first-team quarterback reps at the Eagles’ practice Tuesday at NovaCare Complex. Vick participated, but deferred to Foles and rookie Matt Barkley, who handled the second-team reps.

The two, Vick and Foles, swear they’re buddies, even if Vick’s injury now costs him the starting job later.

No one — not Vick, nor Foles, nor offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur — would say definitively what the team’s plan is for whom will start under center in Sunday’s rivalry game for the Eagles (3-3) against the Cowboys (3-3), in which first place in the NFC East standings will be on the line.

Vick said his hamstring, the one he injured Oct. 6 against the New York Giants, has improved from the “50, 55, 60 percent” at which he practiced last week. However, he made it clear he’s trying to avoid re-aggravating the nagging strain. If Vick’s propensity for leaving the pocket and dashing into open field was minimal, the 33-year-old said he’d be a go for this weekend.

“If I was just a drop-back quarterback, I could still play,” said Vick, who blamed a new stretching regimen in pregame at New York for the injury. “But I’m different. I see things differently. I feel things differently. That’s just a part of my game. That’s why I’ve had the success I’ve had.

“If I had to go in the game, I could sit in the pocket.”

Maybe the decision had been made prior to Tuesday’s practice, that Foles would work with the first-team offense and Barkley would conduct operations with the scout team as Vick’s activity would be somewhat limited. If that was the case, Shurmur sure did a good job of intimating the opposite.

Shurmur had said earlier in the day that no decisions had been made for the day’s proceedings, let alone the weekend’s game. Instead, he merely assumed that Foles would continue training as the starter until he heard otherwise.

“Well, we’ll see when we’re out here today practicing,” Shurmur said. “At this point, Nick… Again, Coach Kelly will address those questions about who the quarterback is when both are healthy. At this point, we’ll go with Nick. And when Mike is healthy, we’ll have that discussion.”

Foles, the second-year man out of Arizona, performed admirably in the Eagles’ win over Tampa Bay, approaching 300 yards passing while tossing three touchdown passes. He’s a Texas native, so naturally it would be a welcome homecoming treat to play in Cowboys Stadium.

But like Vick, Foles is towing the company line and keeping it coy.

If the Eagles have one thing going for them, it’s that Vick and Foles are in agreement that mutual respect and mutual belief that both quarterbacks are capable of doing the job will prevail.

Vick, in his seven-minute press address, told a story about inviting Foles to his home during the summer so the two could find time to bond. Wide receiver Jason Avant mentioned how the two golf together, when they’re not around the Eagles. Foles went as far as to say he and Vick are friends.

Believe what you want, but Vick and Foles are making an effort to keep good vibes flowing in the locker room.

“There’s always going to be competition. You’re always going to push each other,” Foles said, of maintaining civility in handling the starting job while Vick rehabs his hammy. “As long as it’s constructive and it makes the team better, that’s what’s most important.

“We’ve been friends since we were here. You have to put your ego aside in this situation and in any situation. I was raised to believe to always, whoever you’re going against, cheer them on, but at the same time you have to play your best when you’re out there. It’s a team sport. It’s not an individual sport. And for us to be better, we have to support each other. … It’s been that way in OTAs and it’s still that way.”

For those keeping score at home, Vick owns a 112.2 career quarterback rating against the Cowboys. He’s also beaten them twice in Dallas since joining the Eagles. Foles went 44-for-60 with 470 yards and two touchdowns in two games against the Cowboys last season, both of which resulted in losses.